Football rumours: Manuel Pellegrini to Barcelona?

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/jan/09/football-transfer-rumours

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Having followed Chelsea on Instagram this week, it has become apparent that Barcelona scurrier Lionel Messi has may also have “liked” Manchester City on Facebook, if rumours linking him with a possible move to either club are anything to go by.

The Star repeats claims that Chelsea are “willing to pay” the unsettled Argentinian’s £200m buy-out clause and meet wage demands that would cost them another £300m over the course of six years. City are also interested and their wistful bean-counters are currently consulting the small print in their well-thumbed copy of The Big Book of Financial Fair Play in a bid to gauge the feasibility of bringing Messi to the Etihad.

For their part, Barcelona hope to put an end to the political turmoil in which they find themselves by showing manager Luis Enrique and his backroom staff the door and replacing them with City boss Manuel Pellegrini, his director of football Txiki Begiristain and City CEO Ferran Soriano. The latter pair have previously worked at Camp Nou under president Joan Laporta, who could well find himself back in charge of Barcelona following their summer presidential elections.

Despite helping Germany to win the World Cup this season, André Schürrle has found his playing time at Chelsea limited this season and could be on his way to Wolfsburg for £23m. Having been deemed to be unfit by his manager José Mourinho, the German winger has been restricted to just five starts since the summer and has suffered the ignominy of being hooked at half-time in his past two matches. He may well be open to a move to the Volkswagen Arena. Vorsprung durch technik etc, and so on.

Elsewhere in Germany, if Ilkay Gundogan is feeling paranoid it could be because Arsenal are out to get him. The Gunners are reported to be on “red alert” as they prepare a £16m move for the defensive midfielder who has been told he can leave Borussia Dortmund in January unless he takes up his pen and inks an extension to his contract which has just 18 months left to run. His team-mate Mats Hummels could also be on the move as those persistent rumours linking the defender with a £35m move to Manchester United refuse to go away.

Marc-André ter Stegen continues to be touted as a potential replacement for Liverpool’s Simon Mignolet, who’s been having a torrid time of it this season. Having failed to replace Claudio Bravo as first-choice keeper at Camp Nou, the 22-year-old German has told Bild that he is increasingly frustrated with the lack of opportunities that have come his way since his move from Borussia Mönchengladbach last summer.

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“It is good to be at Barça but the situation is difficult,” he said. “I’d be lying if I said I didn’t care and it isn’t easy being a spectator.” It is, however, worth noting, that Herr Ter Stegen went on to say he’s prepared to stay and fight for his right to replace Bravo as Barcelona’s No1.

Depending on which media outlet you depend on for your daily drip-feed of transfer tittle-tattle, French international central defender Raphaël Varane is moving to Chelsea this month, unless he sits tight and chooses between the London club and Manchester United in the summer. Manchester City defender Matija Nastasic will wrap up his £10m move to Schalke in the next few days in order to help the Premier League champions fund their move for Swansea City striker Wilfried Bony.

Everton will attempt to arrest their slide towards the bottom of the Premier League table by bringing Aaron Lennon to Goodison Park, but will have to fight off interest from Sunderland, Stoke City, Hull City and West Bromwich Albion to secure the scrawl of the £7m-rated winger. Further north, Danny Ings has given Burnley fans reasons to be cheerful by announcing that he’d quite like to stay at Turf Moor and help his team-mates narrowly avoid relegation rather than move to White Hart Lane and help Spurs narrowly avoid missing out on Champions League qualification.

In much the same way as he doesn’t seem to express much interest in anything, Mario Balotelli is reported to have turned his nose up at the possibility of a loan move to Greek side Olympiakos until the end of the season. Lyon striker Alexandre Lacazette has shown more enthusiasm as far as moving clubs is concerned, prompting Arsenal and Liverpool to scramble in their efforts to sign the 23-year-old who has scored 19 goals in 20 appearances for the Ligue 1 side this season.

“Between England and Spain, I don’t have a preference,” said Lacazette upon being asked about his next move. “I dreamt about Barça when I was little, but once you grow up you know you cannot be on just one club. I will not be leaving for the sake of it, I have medium- and long-term aims, after that we will see what is best for me.”

Having scored the whopping total of two goals in 70 appearances for Hull City and Sunderland combined, Jozy Altidore is pining for a return to MLS but is unlikely to re-sign for New York Red Bulls, who are reported to have baulked at his reported wage demands of $5m-6m a year. Good work if you can get it.

Manchester United will attempt to stop Real Madrid from turning the head of their goalkeeper David De Gea by doubling his wages to £140,000 per week, while Tottenham are struggling to encourage Inter and Schalke to turn the head of their midfielder Paulinho and may have to reduce their £17m asking price.

And finally, expect the name of the former Lyon coach Rémi Garde to be daubed on the bed-sheets of assorted Newcastle fans as they clamour for his exit from St James’ Park next season if Telegraph reports of his imminent appointment as the new head coach are true.